Running Pacegraph

January 29, 2014

I noticed that I ran both miles of my two mile run on January 15th in the same pace. This rarely happens, I usually run each mile slower than the last. If I want to up my mileage, I should aim to keep a consistent pace mile after mile. So, that’s where I got the idea of creating this graph. I want a graph that shows I am moving toward a consistent pace as I add more miles.

I was able to access my running data using Strava’s API, and create a first version of this running pace graph using D3. Each row of the graph represents one run. Each circle in a row represents each mile, with the left most circle being the first mile. I mapped the duration of each mile to the radius, so a smaller radius means a faster pace. I also mapped the pace to the color of the circle, with bluish colors representing faster and average paces and red being a slower pace. Some rows have tiny circles at the end. Those are partial miles, which I’ll remove.

This graph already shows some interesting observations. I slowed down with each mile in 2012, and have been more consistent recently. The circles from recent runs are also smaller, meaning I ran at a faster pace. All the runs in 2014 don’t have much elevation change. I don’t remember the ones from 2012. I should use symbols to denote uphill or downhill as my pace will vary more with elevation change.